The Difference Between Heaven and Hell
by Rogue Queen's Gambit
Summary: Satan's son and heaven's newest angel fall in love. This is where the love that was to transcend time began. InuKag, MirSan. Please R&R! I would reeeally like to see more than 3 reviews on this!
1. Hel Fire

**The Difference between Heaven and Hell**

**By: Koneko Hanyou**

Prologue 

The pained screams of the damned made their way down the stone hallways of the sweltering underground city. Tongues of flame measuring at infinitesimal temperatures peeked out from cracks in the floors and walls. Gehenna- the City of Yokai and the living place of yokai, evil spirits, and fallen angels. Deep in the center of this city was the palace, the living quarters of Satan as he ruled over his fiery domain. The gates over the entrance were made of black marble and embedded with flecks of gold. Above the gates stood an arch with these symbols, inscribed on it. They stood for the words "Tokoro No Waruii" or "Place of Evil". The courtyard was made entirely out of black marble. Every few feet was a bench carefully crafted out of pure jet and inlaid with patterns of peridot. The halls of the building were all paved with the deepest of stones and the walls were adorned with tapestries depicting historic events in the dimension's history. They displayed such things as the fall of Lucifer, and all his angels from Heaven to the place now known as Hel; an army of yokai and devils slaughtering an equally large army of angels and seraphim; and finally, Michael, the Arch angel, casting Lucifer and all his followers into Hel for all eternity. The palace was divided up into four sections: the outer courts, where His Majesty, Satan, received the newly arriving souls; the inner courts, where the Royal Family lived and took most of their meals; the harem, where the women of the family mainly took their leave to rest at day's end; and finally, the servants living quarters.

In the inner courts, one of the sons of Satan slept peacefully on his mattress and pillows of angel feathers and bedding of black velvet and silk. This, was Satan's second oldest and most favored son, Ienu. With sleek, silver hair down to his waist, honey-golden eyes, and razor sharp fangs and steel-like claws, he was an almost exact portrait of his father. The only difference lying in the hair color and ears. Ienu had silver dog-ears poking out of the top of his long mane of silver hair. Satan had pointed ears like an elf and ebony black hair ending in the middle of his back. Their temperament was exactly the same, both of them being feisty, short-tempered, and very impatient. Except for having a few small differences, they were almost exact copies of each other.

Ienu's mother had been a half yokai, but she had been very powerful, powerful enough to be the leader of the earth bound canine yokai (dogs, wolves, jackals, coyotes, etc.), but sadly, she was killed in a battle against the angels many eons ago. Satan also had 3 other children: his youngest son, Shinji, was a mischievous little water yokai whose greatest joy in life was to torment Ienu. Shinji had Satan's temper and when he really got mad, it showed through maybe not quite so admirably. His eldest son, Lumon, was a cold-hearted yokai who held a deep seeded hatred against Ienu and was also Satan's messenger between Heaven and Hell. This left Kilanai, Satan's only daughter. Kilanai was an underly emotional fire spirit who didn't seem to flinch or change her expression no matter what the occasion, but one only had to look into her eyes to be able to read the true emotions that refused to make themselves known on her normally placid face. Although Kilanai appeared to constantly be fighting with Shinji, they did not, as is appeared, hate each other. They just could not get along.

On that morning, as the wails of those sentenced to eternal torment under his father's rule reached his ears, Ienu grinned peacefully and snuggled deeper into his bedding. His peace did not last for long, however.

Chapter 1 

Bounding through the heavy, stone doors of Ienu's bedchambers was none other than his younger brother, Shinji. A cheerfully mischievous smile plastered on his youthful face, Shinji spread his tiny wings and floated silently over top of his comatose elder brother. Snickering uncontrollably, he took a deep breath and hollered at the top of his voice, " IENU! WAKE UP!"

Unfortunately for both Ienu and Shinji, since Ienu was the heavy sleeper he just happened to be, he just moaned, waved his hand in the air and rolled over, back into his cozy bedding.

Seeing that his brother had not awakened, Shinji pouted for a moment and thought about what he would do next. Suddenly, a light seemed to flicker into life over the little water yokai's head. Stretching out his palms to face Ienu, he smirked and focused on his palms, which had begun to glow a bright blue-green. "WAKE UP!"

Water burst forth from the palms of the roguish yokai, engulfing Ienu with a cold and sudden wake up call. Gasping and sputtering into full wakefulness, Ienu attempted to grasp his surroundings and comprehend what was happening in his still dazed mind. "Who the… Who the HEL!" About 3 feet in the air over Ienu's bed, was Shinji, doubled over with mirth. When Ienu had been splashed with the cold liquid from Shinji's palms, his body had changed the way all yokai, devils, or evil spirits who resided in the realm of Hel. His limbs shrunk, bringing his height down from six feet and two inches to about three feet and one inch. Because of this he looked chubbier than normal.

"Hahaha! Ienu's gone chibi!" Shinji giggled.

"Shinji! What in Hel's Fire are you doing!"

"What does it look like? Harassing you and waking you up, of course."

"Fine, but why wake me up?"

Shinji would have answered, but he had lapsed into another fit of giggling and was trying to talk between bursts of laughter.

"Hahahaha! You…you look a SO fu… funny when… when you go chibi! Ahahahaha!"

Just as Ienu was about to pounce on his brother and tackle him to the ground, just to prove that he was awake, Kilanai, his elder sister walked into the room, looking as sleepy as Ienu felt.

"What's going on in here? Why all the noise?" She asked, her flat, monotonous tones ringing around the room. "Shinji, what are you doing to Ienu this time? Are you harassing him again?"

At the same time Ienu and Shinji answered "YES!" "NO!"

Rolling her eyes, Kilanai muttered something in Helian (the official language of the Netherworld) and extended her arms, palms first, towards Ienu. From her warmly glowing palms burst forth a stream of flames. Her cry of "Kaji No Roi!" or "Fire of Darkness!" echoed through the room as the flames engulfed the miniature, chubby body of Ienu and restored it to its original proportions. He closed his eyes to savor the feeling of being his normal size again and allowed an expression of peace and contentment to slide onto his face. But the expression disappeared almost quicker than it had appeared. The one that replaced it, however, was not one of happiness and contentment, but one that glared death and hatred into the eyes of the younger yokai. Ienu slowly approached, taking care to slowly edge a silver serving platter off of his bedside table as a shield. As he continued to bear down on Shinji, he growled one barely audible word: "Shinji…" Since Shinji was still giggling uncontrollably, he was taken unawares when Ienu grabbed his leg and hauled him bodily out of the air and onto the bed for torture. "Shinji! You are SO dead!" The little yokai managed to squirm out of his older brother's grasp and flew up out of his reach. "Nyah-Nyah! Can't kill me! I'm a yokai! Nyah-Nyah!"

"You are so stupid! I'm a yokai too, baka (idiot)! I am also a devil! Die!"

"Ahh! Ahh! Kilanai! Help me, please!"

"Shut up, you little wretch!"

"No! No! PLEASE! Stop!"

"Die, Munchkin!"

"KILANAI! HELP!"

Ienu jumped up and caught hold of the flighty little yokai's miniature leg and pinned him to the floor. He wrapped his arms around his back and sat on his back to prevent him from squirming and causing trouble. "Now, you little menace! Do you give up? Have you had enough yet? Huh?"

"I give! I give! Now let me up, you huge oaf!"

"Why you little…" Lucky enough for Shinji, he was able to wriggle out of his brother's grasp before he was suffocated.

Ienu removed himself from the floor and dusted himself off. Just as he was beginning to recover from the sorrow of not being able to maul and totally mutilate Shinji's body, two even more annoying creatures made their presence known by bursting through the double doors which led to his bed chambers. "Master Ienu!"

"Oh no! Not _those two_!" moaned Shinji

"Oh yay! You're awake!"

'Oh yes. Yay, indeed.' Thought Ienu.

"Yes! You look oh so refreshed this morning!"

'She must be blind.'

Before him stood his two extremely irritating personal attendants, Neko and Koneko. They were both cat yokai and because he was half dog yokai, Ienu hated them more than almost anything else in the universe. His opinion of them was that they were quite annoying and just took up space in the nether world. Looking at the two eager and overly cheerful faces before him, Ienu wondered exactly why his father had given him felines for attendants. 'Ugh.' He thought 'Cats. What moron invented these creatures anyway? Certainly not _my_ father.'

"Oh master Ienu, you look like you enjoyed a peaceful night's rest!" purred Koneko.

'Suck up.' Ienu thought. "Hey, why don't you two go and spoil someone else's morning? Maybe Satan would like to have you around." As soon as he said this, Ienu knew it was the wrong thing to say. Neko and Koneko's eyes suddenly became large, watery, and seemed almost unreal because of their unnatural size. Their mouths drooped surprisingly low as they whimpered "You…You don't want us here?"

"Uhh…"

"Don't you like us?"

"Err…"

"You don't, do you?"

"Wha? Of course I…"

"Waaahhhh! Waaahhhh! You don't like us! Waaahhhhh!"

'Ugh' "Okay, Okay. I'm sorry. Listen, I don't hate you."

"You…You don't?"

'Yes, I do.' "No, I don't hate you."

"Really? YAY! Anything you need us to do for you?"

"Yea, can you get me some water with lots of ice?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Right away, sir!"

"Sure thing Ienu! Coming right up!" shouted Shinji with an impish grin.

"Shinji! No, you little-" But it was too late. Streams of unbelievably cold water mixed with ice cubes met Ienu square in the face once again causing him to change form once again into his chibi form. Luckily for Shinji, the force of the water knocked Ienu unconscious, preventing him from killing Shinji once more. "Master Ienu!" shouted both Neko and Koneko as they rushed to the senseless inu (dog) hanyo's side. "Oh Master Ienu!" purred Neko

"Are you alright? Don't worry. Koneko's here now."

"Master, you mustn't try to move just yet!"

"Uhhh? Ohhhh no. Not you." Muttered Ienu in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Shh. Listen to him, Neko. Doesn't know what he's talking about."

"Yes indeed. He hit his head harder than we thought. Don't worry Master. We'll take care of everything."

"No! I want to be the one to-"

"You're in no condition to do anythi-"

"I said I wanna do it and that's what I'm going to do! Kilanai! Hit me!"

"Whatever. KAJI NO ROI!" Almost at once, Ienu's body began to grow back to its original size, enabling him to throw off the two over protective felines. "You two! Water! Lots of Ice! In a glass! Now! Go!"

"Y-Yes Sir! Right away Sir! Going Sir!"

"GET!"

"Going!" said Neko

"Gone!" yelled Koneko

As the pair scurried out of the room, Ienu approached a giggling Shinji and muttered two words "Shinji… dead." Once again, the hanyo grabbed his serving tray shield and began his assault on the devilish Shinji. As the two chased each other around the room, Kilanai sat in the far corner, rolled her eyes and loftily said "Yokai…"

Hours later, on his way down to the dining hall for his morning meal, Ienu sat himself down on one of many stone benches that spanned the halls of the palace. Sitting down to think over the hectic morning, Ienu thought back to the last time, many centuries ago, when he had learned not to upset his attendants in any way. The consequences could be quite…disastrous.

Flashback

A young boy sat in the middle of an empty room using his powers to entertain himself by setting chunks of rock and stone on fire by staring at them intently and sending them flying across the room.  
Hearing footsteps, the boy looked up from his destructive entertainment and saw his two attendants, Neko and Koneko enter the room. The pair of vivacious, cunning felines made their way toward him and spoke, "Come, young master Ienu. Your divine father awaits your presence. You are to accompany him on his journey to the annual bridge meeting."  
"I don't wanna."  
"Please, young master. Come along. Do it for us?" purred Koneko, batting her eyelashes seductively at the young prince.  
"Why would I do it for you?" Ienu snapped "I hate you! I hate cats! Especially cat yokai. No!"  
"M-Master Ienu! Surely you don't mean that!" screeched Neko  
"Yes I do! Leave me alone! I hate you both!" At this, Ienu turned and was about to continue setting the stray stones on fire and flinging them at the walls. His revelry was stopped when he felt a terribly dark aura begin to grow behind him. "Now, Master Ienu, I know you don't really mean what you said, do you? But just incase, that was quite inappropriate and you must be punished for this."  
"What? Punished…? What the…" But Ienu's protest was lost in his throat. What he heard was not the same simpering, sweet, annoyingly cheerful voices he was used to hearing, but a new, strange, dangerously menacing voice. No more did their eyes contain the same gleeful sparkle, but a desire for blood and death. Over the tops of their bottom lips protruded one of their razor sharp fangs as their claws like six-inch steel spikes extended from their fingertips and they circled closer and closer.

An hour passed. Had it been an hour? Ienu could no longer remember. Many times had Neko and Koneko beaten and kicked him in the head during the last hour that his memory had started to blur. His eyes had grown all dark and puffy from the many beatings received from the two cat yokai. His muscles were sore and he was stiff all over. Many were the horrific gashes that marred his previously unblemished skin and added to his hideous appearance. The blood had dried in clumps in his silvery hair and stained his now ragged and torn haori.  
Barely hanging on to the cliff edge of consciousness, Ienu thought he could faintly hear Koneko ask him, "Now, young master, have we learned our lesson for today?" Hardly able to manage a whisper, Ienu was able to gasp out a feeble "Yes." Unfortunately, his exhausted attempt at speech was not enough to pacify the already angered feline twins. "Not loud enough." Purred Neko, and violently kicked him multiple times in his already sore stomach, causing him to have to wind knocked out of him yet again, as had happened many fold within the past hour.  
Wanting badly to escape the furious torment of the two devious felines, Ienu tried again tried to answer his captors' query, this time in a slightly louder voice. Again, Koneko found his response too weak and kicked his body again. Over and over the painful procedure was repeated and by now at least six of his ribs had broken. On their final blow, the breath was forced from the young boy's lungs so violently that he began to cough up blood. Desiring desperately to escape, Ienu mustered all the strength he had left in his battered body and hollered a good, strong "YES!"  
Finally satisfied with his answer, Neko and Koneko exited the room, leaving their young charge to slip slowly and painfully into darkness. Before losing all consciousness however, Ienu heard the rotten pair remark, "We must tell the young master's father what he's been up to. I doubt the Lord would be at all pleased." No longer able to hang onto the precipice of consciousness, Ienu succumbed to the darkness, which had been edging at the corners of his vision for the past hour.  
When the boy came to, his father's familiar face swam before his eyes. His father's normally stern eyes were laced with concern for his son as he lay on his bed and began to regain consciousness. Seeing this, Satan's face lit up as he gently placed a warm hand on his son's trembling shoulder.

"Ienu! Finally, you have awakened! Are you feeling well?"  
"I'm fine. What happened?" Ienu asked.  
"You obviously do not remember."  
"Uhhh, no. You're right. I don't."  
"Well, according to Neko and Koneko, you were attacked."  
"Yeah! By them!"  
"No, by a group of rogue yokai. Neko and Koneko saved you by chasing the trouble makers off."  
"No! They were the ones who-"  
"Saved your life. Now, do you not think that you should show your gratitude?"  
"Uh, yea. Sure." His answer was decided for him when he glanced quickly at the felines' faces and saw that once again their eyes contained the same malicious gleam he had seen earlier and a longing for death and bloodshed.  
"Ienu," began the boy's father, "Why did you think you could take on a whole group of yokai by yourself? Haven't I told you multiple times not to try to take on yokai larger than you? Especially when you are outnumbered!" This inquiry puzzled the boy. Hadn't he just been minding his own business, when Neko and Koneko, refusing to accept his negative reply, had attacked him ferociously and without mercy? How in Hel could he have been fighting yokai? Unless… Yes, that had to be it. It was Neko and Koneko's cover story. They would never say anything to anger or upset their Lord. And attacking the Lord's favorite son would surely have earned them a place in one of Hel's darkest torture chambers for all eternity. Many of the vassals and retainers of Satan pulled the same trick. If something went wrong with an operation assigned to them, the yokai set to perform the task would be able to shove his mistakes onto the shoulders of a lesser yokai. Satan knew all about this, but he did not have the time to deal with them.  
"But, Father, I…" Ienu began, but was silenced by his father.  
"But what, Ienu? Three very well trusted witnesses clearly place you at that spot! For attempting to lie, you shall receive a harsher punishment than I first intended to bestow upon you." Seeing that this statement had made an impact on the boy, Satan continued on. "Originally, I was only going to forbid you from traversing forth into the city for a century. Now, I am forced to revoke your Helian powers for TWO centuries!"  
Ienu, realizing he was defeated and there was no arguing now, lay back down on his bed, lowered his and replied in a resigned voice, "Yes, my Lord Father. I will heed your divine word." With that, Satan rose and left the room with Neko and Koneko flanking him, leaving Ienu to drift slowly back to sleep.  
End Flashback  
Rising from his place on the bench, Ienu decided he wasn't so hungry anymore. He began to make his way down the dark stone hallways to the fencing yard where he would spend hours practicing with the katana (sword) he had inherited from his father, the Shadow of Evil. By practicing everyday with his blade, Ienu had learned how to bring out it's two secret moves, the Sign of Hel and the Seal of Death. During his practice, he could normally forget all around him as he attempted to pass his training simulation for the day. Why were these memories suddenly deciding to surface and haunt him now? Why all the sudden the memories of the Bridge Meetings with Heaven? Why the memories of the Celestial Consulate? 'Get a hold of yourself!' said a small voice in the back of his mind, 'You call yourself a Helian prince? Thinking of angels! Yuck! Don't poison your mind with their fluttery white wings! What a waste of time! You must FOCUS!' 'Focus. Yea, right. Focus.' Thought Ienu.  
But Fate, she is a funny thing. She never listens to the hearts of those who are woven into her fabric of time. Never.


	2. Heaven's Latest

**Chapter 2**

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, its rays reaching every inch of the dimension in which happiness almost always reigned eternal. The shining sunrays penetrated the mist-like clouds and caused the dew droplets to reflect tear shaped prism reflections on the damp face of Kayuki, commonly known as Kayu.

As a fairly young angel, Kayu was only 1 earth day old. She didn't know the protocol for Heaven yet! Her own mother didn't recognize her and she knew no one in this strange new realm. Kayu was a special kind of angel; she was quite unlike the rest of the heavenly host. Kayu was a human. Or had been at one point, about a day or so ago. Ah, but it seemed like ages since she had walked to the poor, impoverished schoolhouse on the edge of her small village. Encased in her misery, Kayu's mind took her back to the day before; when she had been happy, content, and satisfied with her life.

Kayuki Yorimaru had been an orphan since she could remember. She had no parents that she could recall, but she did used to receive flashes of memory of a kind faced woman standing over her and smiling; clapping her hands together and singing to her. She could never remember the words to the song, but she always hoped that they were somewhere, locked inside her memory, eventually accessible. Kayu used to constantly hum snatches of the song to herself, especially when she felt stressed. It had always sounded like a lullaby to her.

The only person she had ever known who had been like a mother to her was a learned Shinto priestess named Kinomi. Kinomi had taken Kayu in when she had found her crying in the rainy streets, her clothes drenched with the water from the sky. Her parents and brother had been lying dead in the ramshackle hut just up the road. She had taught Kayu everything she could ever have needed to know and more. Kayu was taught to read, write, do mathematics, basic and advanced sciences and medicines, philosophy, poetry, theology, martial arts, kenjutsu, and classic literature. Kinomi had also taught Kayu things traditionally learned by women too; such as the tea ceremony, art, music, dances, and many other things. In many ways, she had received the type of education most in Japan only dreamt of. **  
**At age 14, Kayu began her life as a teacher. Many times over the course of the next two years would she be offered positions as a private tutor for the children of the local daimyo, but everytime, she would decline in favor of her less privileged students. She could never work in such a stuffy, formal atmosphere. After her first day of teaching, she found she loved it so much she couldn't possibly give it up. Unfortunately, at age 16, two years after beginning her career as a teacher, Kayu's life came to an abrupt end.

The mournful event occurred one night in her home, after a long afternoon of walking home from a particularly hard day of teaching. One of her students, a young boy named Shiro, was having an extremely hard time learning how to write. Kayu had spent most of the day hovering over his shoulder, and assisting him in his studies in whatever way possible. Her energy spent, Kayu wearily trudged home to her damp and dreary hut, desperately hoping that she still had a few tea leaves and enough ingredients for a small pot of stew in her dilapidated little hovel she was forced to call home.

Upon entering her dwelling, she immediately checked her larder and found that even thought it was nearly bare, there was enough left for a cup of tea and a good meal. As she began to stir certain ingredients together in the attempt to start a stew, Kayu heard a sound coming from the one other room in the hut: her bedroom. With a fear of a very real bandit lurking behind the doorway, she took her kitchen knife and held it tightly in her shaking hands and crept as silently as possible towards her room. Edging the long, ragged cloth which served as a door and leaning inside, she spied a cloaked and hooded figure rummaging through the few valuables and heirlooms she owned. And it didn't stop there, at her jewelry pouch. Oh no, this bandit must have figured that she had hidden even more valuables in her closet. Of course, he was wrong. For inside her closet resided her meager wardrobe, which consisted of three hand-made cotton kimonos, two for common wear and the third for holidays, a worn obi, an extra pair of worn tatami sandals. The final piece of her wardrobe was an expensive silk uchikake given to her by Kinomi as a gift on her fourteenth birthday. Wrapped inside was her only tie to her lost family: their ceremonial katana, the Sasayaki no za Kaze.

As she watched in horror, the bandit snatched up the uchikake, causing the Sasayaki to fall to the ground in a loud clatter. The intruder unceremoniously stuffed the uchikake into his sack and reverently bent to retrieve the fallen blade. His eyes seemed to light up the dark room as he drew the wondrous blade from its perfect sheath and marveled at its flawless contours. He made as if to cram that into the bag as well, but thought better of it and tied it about his waist, admiring his appearance to the best of his ability without a looking glass.

She could no longer contain her anger. How dare he? This person, unknown to her and her home, was intruding upon the little ownership she had in this world. He was taking from her, her only connection to her ancestors and to her family, now long dead from this place. She could take it no more! She burst through the curtain; her knife raised high and poised to attack.

However, as she looked around her room, she saw no one. Realizing that no one was in the room, she relaxed, just for a second. That one second, however, was all the time her assailant needed to catch Kayu off her guard. Dropping dramatically from his hiding place on the ceiling, he drew the Sasayaki no za Kaze, and with the back of the one-sided weapon, struck the area just below her shoulders, causing her arms to go inexplicably limp at her sides. Recalling in an instant her training with Kinomi, Kayu continued to battle with her unknown attacker.

After a time, she began to tire, having only been battling with her feet and legs. Again, her opponent took advantage of her weakness and took the opportunity to disable her completely with a swift slash to her lower back.

Fully paralyzed now, Kayu lay there, in a pool of her own blood and stared defiantly up into the cold, emotionless eyes of her attacker. As he raised her family's blade to end her life, she spoke for the first time since the attack had begun.

"Why are you attacking me?"

Apparently not feeling the need to dignify her question with an answer, he took a deep breath and plunged the unstained blade through her chest. Blood spouted from her and dyed her worn, rose colored kimono a deep, dark crimson. As the life faded quickly from her body, Kayu repeated her previously unanswered question and spoke her last in the same breath.

"W-Why…?"

With a tremendous shudder and a sharp gasp, the last remaining traces of life evaporated from the schoolteacher's corpse. Seeing that his victim was now lifeless, the brigand gathered his spoils and made a hasty retreat.

Her heart had ceased to beat and her chest had ended its monotonous cadence of rising and falling, her brain was enveloped in a white fog, and her life began to play itself out before her eyes. She recalled how her parents had hugged her tightly and told her they loved her, and then watched as they lay dying on the dirt floor of their tiny hut. She recalled Kinomi finding her on the street and telling her that everything would be all right. She recalled in pain, the times in which she had been thrown to the floor during her training with the priestess. Her students' happy faces smiled back at her in this dream world where everything was slurred together worse than the speech of an inebriated man. Shiro's wide, toothy smile blinked through her mind as he proved to her that he could, in fact, write his own name. Finally, the ethereal slide-show was ended with the vision of her attacker claiming her few possessions as his own and snuffed out the brightly glowing candle that had been her life. All of these images played themselves out in her head as her contented, yet curious soul floated up to the heavens.

When her soul finally breached the misty clouds separating the heavens from the earth, she saw the Gates of Heaven; the same gates, which she had heard, described on earth as only the most amazing sight in the universe. They were immense in size and were crafted from gold and inlaid with mother of pearl and scattered tastefully with miniscule fresh water pearls. An angel with scrawny, grayish silver wings sat at an ancient, yet beautiful, desk saw her approaching and hastily began to comb back his hair and preen his wings. When she reached him, he seemed to drink in her impeccable features and nervously inquired as to her name. He also wanted to know her age at time of death, and if she had had any pets or relatives whose deaths had predated her own.

Kayu smiled kindly down at this angel, who looked as if he longed for attention, company, or at least a some brief companionship and answered his three questions promptly and truthfully.

"My name is Kayuki Yorimaru. I am…er… _was…_ sixteen years old and I had my two parents, one brother, and a cat, named Chiyu, die previous to me."

The angel was so intent on recording her information in a large book before him, that he suddenly jumped in his seat when he read over the data he had so carefully recorded.

"Good…Good…Goo—Whoa. Wait a moment. You said your name was 'Kayuki Yorimaru,' am I correct?"

She nodded, sensing that something was wrong.

"Well, Otou-sama wishes to speak with you immediately. Apparently, it is extremely urgent, something different."

She did not like the sound of that at all. The angel smiled nervously up at her again and whispered,

"Good luck, " and pointed towards a set of stairs that had suddenly appeared to his left. She could not help but find herself thinking, '_Perfect. I finally arrive in paradise and I am already in trouble with the daimyo!' _Trudging up the fluffy and bouncy stairs, which appeared to be made of clouds, Kayu continued to have such ominous and foreboding thoughts as she continued her ascent up the heavenly stairwell.

After what seemed like hours, but had probably been longer, she finally reached what she sincerely hoped was the top. At the peak of the staircase, was a doorway, standing strangely on its own. The doorway glowed with a golden aura and as she reached out to touch it, she could feel the air around it crackle with holy, pure energy. Kayu gulped heavily as she opened the door and put one-foot through, and then, finishing her step, entered the doorway.

As soon as she stepped through the door, she was transported upwards; it seemed, to another dimension. The sensation she felt was as though she were flying. Suddenly, when she stopped, she was thrown forward with great force. She was fast approaching a large stone chair, head first. Her last thoughts before she made contact were, '_At this speed, if I hit that, I'm going to die!' _and that's when realization reared its ugly head. '_Oh…wait…I'm already dead… Is it possible to die again?' _Just before she was about to smash into the stone structure, her body…stopped and just hung there, suspended in midair by some unknown force. Floating gently downwards, she landed upright with a stunned expression on her face.

"Do not look surprised, Kayuki-chan, anything is possible in Tentou."

The voice was a deep, calm voice filled with compassion and loving tenderness and seemed to come from everywhere and no where at the same time.

"N-Nani?" she stuttered nervously. "I'm in Tentou?"

She couldn't see the face to which the voice belonged, but she could "see" and feel it smile and nod gently in her… well, _mind._

"Yes, you are in Tentou, and you will be my tenshi-chan." It replied calmly.

Now, her voice had reached a high, chirping level she had before believed been only attainable by such creatures as the birds and bats.

"Impossible! You cannot be serious! I was under the impression that human souls could not become angelic beings!"

The voice smiled again.

"They can't."

"Eh?"

"Normally, they cannot. But you, however, are special. You were so pure in life, tenshi-chan, and the purest of the pure. You hated no one, yet you had many occasions in which you could have hated the world and me. You were incredibly poor, yet you were never once dissatisfied and wouldn't have traded your poverty for all the riches of the daimyo. You had lost so much, yet you never blamed others or resented them for any reason because of your misfortune. You lead a hard, well lived, and loving life. Not many can say that."

"Please, how are my students? Who will teach them now that I am…_gone? _Will they be well? Is Shiro well?"

Once again, she could "see" and feel it as the voice chortled softly.

"They are all well. That is what has earned you this great honor, Kayu-chan. You care more about the welfare of others than for yourself. And you think little of the personal gain each task will bring. That is why you are to be," She felt a breeze blow past her face, as if someone had waved a hand in front of her. She could feel the enormous rush of power flow through her and permeate every cell on her body. " My tenshi-chan."

Suddenly, Kayu felt a sharp pain in her mid-back and as she looked behind her, she was forced to gasp at what she saw. Soft, silvery blue wings had erupted from her flesh and had grown larger and stronger within seconds, adhering themselves quite soundly into her back. Her hair changed from its previous shade of raven to silvery blue streaked subtly with royal blue and her once mud-brown eyes were transformed to a bright indigo with ice-blue streaks. Her battered, worn and ragged kimono was replaced by one of such splendor, it would have made the emperor's daughter blush in her best court robe. It seemed to outshine the sun in all of its glory, for the material was softer than any silk and moved like water. It had been dyed soft lavender, which bled to a darker, more defined orchid-purple near the hems. Finally, around her neck hung a simple gold chain. Strung on this chain was a tiny, golden ring with wings engraved around the outside edges and inlaid with small, simple, white diamonds. On the inside were symbols written in an unknown language. As she began to attempt to decipher it, the voice chuckled once again and said,

"Do not worry, my Tenshi-chan. You will be able to read it when the time comes. Only then, will you really need to know the meaning of those symbols."

"But sir, what language is it written in? Maybe I know this strange dialect and have just forgotten."

"No, I am afraid that is not the case. Tenshi-chan, you will not know this language. It is not yet known to your people and will not be so for many years. It is the language of a race that lives far across the earth and seas and will soon die out. It is known as Runic."

"Roo-nick?"

"Yes, Runic. You will learn of it eventually, but it is of no concern to you at this time. Now, I must cut our discussion short, for I have a conference at which I must be present. Another 'negotiation' with Satan, I'm afraid. Would you like to attend?"

"Could I?"

"Of course. But we must leave now. Fly to the Rainbow Bridge and await me there. I must collect the other members of my…er…_advisors_, I guess you could say."

"Hai, Otousan-sama."

With that, Kayu spread her glorious new wings and took to the air. Soaring high over and through the clouds, she saw oh so many things on the ground below her. She saw older angels, going about their tasks and standing over mirrors which looked as if they saw into the world below. She saw younger angels, playing and having a grand old time, just like her students used to do after their classes. The angels, however, seemed to be doing something useful, no matter how unknown, as they played. She saw human souls, lined up at the gates where the same dingy silvery-winged angel she had seen before sat, now looking thoroughly bored. She hailed him and waved, bringing an instant smile to his wearied face. She saw human souls walking and talking inside the gates and others sitting dejectedly in corners. Then, turning her gaze to her right, she saw the soul of someone she had only before seen in her dreams. Someone she never thought that she would see again, especially not in person.

"M-Mama!"


End file.
